Last week, Sony mentioned that Firmware 3.0 for the PS3 is going to be the last major update of the year with small updates for the rest of the year - of course. Well, it's now live to all users. Here's some new features that have been found already, more will come later of course. By the way, I'll be updating this post when more information about Firmware 3.0 gets pushed out.

The new firmware update has it, bringing new XMB functionality, a status indicator, a friends list redesign, dynamic themes, avatars, and much more.

Free and premium avatars show up in your status bar, but the most prevalent of the changes is a status bar in the top right of the screen, which shows your avatar, your user icon, what you are up to, and a mail icon, in case you have messages waiting. Messages from your friends now appearing in their respective profiles.

Update: According to Sony Insider, here is most of what has changed in Firmware version 3.0.

System changes

The system startup has been slightly redesigned.

[Information Board] replaced by a [What's New] feature.

When the system is started it will display the [What's New] screen by default instead of the [Games] menu.

A [Status Indicator] added to the top of the screen showing the user’s online status, the number of friends online and an icon indicating if there are unread PSN messages.

The swirling activity indicator has been redesigned and now looks like an analog clock

The [Friends] list has been redesigned.

Messages from a specific person will now be accessible from that user’s profile screen.

According to Financial Times, Google is teaming up with Sony to distribute their browser, Google Chrome. Although having Google Chrome on Sony Vaio's won't push Google Chrome's market share a whole lot, it's definitely a good start. According to Mashable, "the Sony Vaios with Chrome on board have already begun to go on sale. Google indicated it's already in talks with other computer manufacturers to boost distribution through similar deals."

All Google needs to do now is work on those extensions and then they'll be set.

More unconfirmed news from DigiTimes. This news states that Asus, Acer, and MSI plan to launch new ultra-thin notebooks running on Intel's new ULV Penryn CPUs, the Celeron 743 and the SU2300. Both of these CPUs will have a 1.2GHz clock speed with 1MB of L2 cache, an 800MHz frontside bus, and a 6x multiplier. The difference between the two CPUs is that the Celeron 743 will suck up to 10w of power, while the ULV SU2300 CPU will only suck up to 5w of power.

If DigiTimes is correct, Asus will be first out of the gate with these new CPUs launching two new notebooks (one running on each new Intel CPU) on September 7th. These notebooks will initially be available in Taiwan, China, and Europe. Hopefully, they'll be hitting Stateside as well.

Acer and MSI plan to launch their own "similar models" in the near future, but right now we don't know exactly when.

A new Asus Eee roadmap has just leaked out. You'll find the Asus Eee PC 1201N, 1005HA-P, and the 1005HA-M on here. All three of these laptops are expected to launch later this year.

The Asus Eee PC 1201N is expected to have: a 12-inch display, an Intel Atom 1.6GHz N270 CPU, a 250GB HDD, Nvidia Ion graphics, 2GB of RAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth support, and a 6-cell battery. This mini-notebook will run on Windows 7 and will retail for $499 USD.

The Asus Eee PC 1005HA-P is going to replace the current 1005HA-P series. It's expected to have: a 10.2-inch display, an Intel Atom 1.66GHz N280 CPU, a 250GB HDD, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth support, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, and a 6-cell battery that will supposedly last 10.5 hours. This netbook will run on Windows 7 Starter Edition and will cost around $399 USD.

Last, but not least is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA-M, which will replace the Eee PC 1005HA-V. We actually heard about this netbook back in May so it's nothing entirely new. The 1005HA-M will have: a 10.2-inch display, an Intel Atom 1.6GHz N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, a 6-cell battery that should last around 8.5 hours, and Windows 7 Starter Edition. This netbook doesn't look like it will have Bluetooth support and it will cost around $349 USD.

Update: According to Engadget, a multi-touch Asus Eee PC T91 tablet / netbook hybrid is on the way as well. This netbook will be running on Windows 7 and will have a 32GB SSD. It's expected to launch for $549 USD, but there is no specified release date yet.

According to DigiTimes, Intel plans to announce their new P55 chipset, Core i5-750, Core i7-860, and Core i7-870 CPUs on September 8th. Unfortunately for me, I can't even afford the "last-gen" Core i7 motherboards, but this is definitely a good look for Intel. Keep in mind that this is unconfirmed news at the time.

Could these really be the first live photos of Google's Chrome OS? Probably not, but they're worth the look. I think everyone expects that the dock is a must-have in the new Chrome OS and Google will probably pull through with that. I like the idea of Google search right on the desktop, but if Chrome (the browser) is built right in to the wallpaper then there's no need for that - since the Google Chrome URL bar is basically a Google search engine itself. Anyways, enough for my rant, you can take a look at the other photo below.

Apple had problems with Nvidia's 9400 Series graphics and that is a big deal when it comes to Apple since they strive for perfection. Well, AMD has just announced that ATI's Radeon HD 4000 Series graphics are going to be used in Apple's iMac and Mac Pro desktop computers. In addition, "ATI says that its HD 4870 video card will be offered inside the Mac Pro computer and that its HD 4850 will be offered inside iMac systems." This is probably intended to be a standard

Santech has released their latest ultraportable notebook. Thin? Check. Intel ULV CPU? Check. Low price tag? Well, not exactly. The Santech LV1 notebook has: a 13.3-inch display, an Intel SU3500 1.4GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, and a battery long enough to supposedly last 12 hours. It also has an 8-cell battery option. Unfortunately, the price tag - if you choose the 8-cell battery option - is €701 ($1,003 USD) after taxes, which would make it €100 more than "an almost identical Aspire 3810T from Acer."

We heard that a high-end Maemo-based smartphone will be unveiled at Nokia World 2009 this year and people are guessing that it could be the Nokia N920 - but it could be a bit too early for that. This smartphone is expected to be higher-end than the recently announced Nokia N900 Maemo-based smartphone and the Nokia N97, so what could it be? We don't know, but maybe it'll be this smartphone.

This is the Nokia Alvin and it has just passed the FCC with: 32GB of internal memory, tri-band WCDMA / quad-band GSM connectivity, Bluetooth / WiFi support, and a 1,320 mAh battery. These features match the N900, but it seems a bit too thin to be the N900. I'm sure we'll see it announced at Nokia World this year. I'm excited.

Lenovo is now planning to launch an HD 10-inch display (1,280 x 720 resolution) option for the IdeaPad S10-2 netbook in both Europe and Japan. This new model will also have integrated Bluetooth support and will cost about $50 more than the usual price tag.

Finally! The long-awaited Asus Eee Keyboard PC has just been spotted at the FCC, so it looks like that October launch is looking pretty solid right now. "Interestingly, the test reports indicate the presence of a UWB radio in addition WiFi and Bluetooth, so it looks like we'll see the planned wireless HDMI model even after the specs pretty much hit the skids earlier this summer." Any other details are still unknown, but if you're looking for the wireless HDMI model you better start praying.

Dell is now the place to go if you want a new PS3 Slim. If you use their 15% off coupons, you can now cut almost $50 off the $300 price tag. "Use coupon code 6FWJ247J1P44CK and your PS3 Slim will cost just $254 [USD]." Get one now, before they run out!

The coupon code also makes for the best Xbox 360 deal yet. A post-price-drop Xbox 360 Pro sells for just $212 on the site. That's almost Arcade-price for a console that you can use! Or if you need an Arcade to replace a busted Pro or something, it's $170.

Nokia has just shown off a new promo video of their tablet, the N900. This device is looking pretty solid thus far, special thanks to Nokia's Linux-based OS, Maemo 5. I don't really have anything else to say here, so enjoy the video below. It's a good look at the UI of the new OS.

New Palm phones have just been spotted in Sprint's inventory systems and we have no clue what they are. It's the Palm 120 and the Palm C40. I guess the Palm 120 could be Sprint's version of the upcoming Palm Eos since the Palm P121 headed to Verizon could be the Eos as well. There is no word on what the Palm C40 could be, but let's hope we see news about that smartphone soon.

Samsung has just launched another "world's first" handset, the Mpower 699. "Manufactured in collaboration with Qualcomm, the Samsung Mpower 699 is the world's first CDMA phone to use OMH (Open Market Handset) technology." The Mpower 699 - awkward name - has: a 1.3MP camera, a microSD card slot, and an FM radio. When it launches it will be priced at 7,100 INR ($145 USD).

Samsung also went on to mention that they expect to launch five more OMH phones by March 2010.

Apple has just confirmed that the event they are holding on September 9th has to do with an iPod refresh. They are now sending out invitations for the said event and it will take place "at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco." Look our for the new [possibly] 3.2MP cameras and let's see what else Apple has in store for us.

Samsung has just officially announced their latest PMP, the YP-R1. "The R1 is hailed as the slimmest and lightest multimedia player around that is compatible with DivX." The YP-R1 also has: a 2.6-inch touchscreen display with the TouchWiz UI, 8GB / 16GB of internal storage, and an 8.9mm thin body that weighs only 50g. This is expected to launch in Europe next month (September) and it will launch everywhere else later this year.

According to the latest rumour, the BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available on Verizon to business customers on September 29th. Regular users will be able to get their crack at the Storm 2 - a little bit later - on October 14th. The price hasn't been mentioned yet, but let's hope what we're hearing is true.

Verizon looks like it won't stop launching LG's VX8xxx, since they are big-sellers. Well, the LG VX8370 has just been spotted at the Bluetooth SIG with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR capabilities. Nothing else is known about this handset, but it could retain the clamshell design since all of the other handsets in the series have had the same design. This handset is expected to launch on Verizon next year, but we'll just have to wait for it to hit the FCC to know more about it.

Thank you RIM! According to the latest rumour, RIM will be launching the BlackBerry Essex, which will basically be the BlackBerry Tour with a new trackpad (optical?) and WiFi capabilities. There's nothing much else to say here, but we're hoping that this rumour comes true. The sexiest BlackBerry could get even sexier soon.

Nokia is set to launch a mid-end touchscreen candybar phone to the Chinese market. This is the Nokia 3208c and it will be available in the two colours you see here, pearl white and graphite black. The 3208c has: a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen display (probably resistive), tri-band GSM/EDGE connectivity, a 2MP camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth / Stereo FM radio support, a stylus, handwriting recognition, and a 1GB memory card in the box. The price and exact release date hasn't been mentioned yet, but you can check out Nokia China's official website for more information.

Sprint has finally announced that they will be launching the HTC Touch Pro 2. The official date will be September 8th and the price will be a whopping $349.99 USD on a 2-year contract after a $100 rebate. It'll have WinMo 6.1 pre-installed and you probably shouldn't get it at launch since you can already scoop up the T-Mobile Touch Pro 2 for just $149.99 on other sites out there. You can go get it if you really feel like, but I'd think it's a waste of money. Just be patient, young grasshopper.

LG looks like it is going to release their first Android phone in China before anywhere else. The LG GW880 is headed to China Mobile later this year and will probably run an OPhone customized build of Google's Android. Other specs of the LG GW880 include: a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen display, a 5MP camera, 256MB of RAM, GPS support, and no WiFi support.

So much for all of the other rumours out there citing September and October launches. It looks like the Deep Red and Metallic Blue DualShock 3 controllers are now available - if you know where to look. The red one (above) was scooped up at GameStop and the blue one (below) was bought at Best Buy, both for $54.99 USD.

Earlier this month, we heard about a couple of new Nikon cameras, the S1000pj, the S70, and the S570. The S1000pj has the projector that can display a 40-inch image, the S70 has a 3.5-inch OLED multi-touchscreen display, and the S570 has a 12MP sensor. Unfortunately, all of these cameras are facing delays. The S70 and S570 are expected to launch on September 19th and the S1000pj is expected to launch on October 23. Apparently, the S1000pj is being delayed a whole month because of the overwhelming demand. Anyways, just wait around for it, it'll be here before you know it.

Looks like Samsung's app store is on the way. "The imaginatively named Samsung Application Store launches on September 14 for British, French, and Italian Omnia and I8910 HD handsets, later coming to the Omnia II and OmniaLITE as well as users in various other nations." Samsung has mentioned that "over 300" apps will be available at launch, "while partners like Electronic Arts, Capcom, Gameloft, and TAITO have signed on for the fun." Let's just hope it won't flop like the Nokia Ovi Store. Check out this website for what you see above.

Back in March we heard about the SmartQ 5 PMP already; it ran Ubuntu and it was pretty cheap. Well, today we're hearing that the same PMP will be pre-loaded with Android and will be selling in Japan at the end of next month (September). In case you forgot, the SmartQ 5 PMP has: a 4.3-inch touchscreen display with an 800 x 480 resolution, a 667MHz Samsung CPU, 1GB of RAM, and WiFi / Bluetooth support. Unfortunately, this probably won't hit anywhere outside of Japan and this device is still lacking 3G support.

Bell has just launched their latest ad for the Palm Pre in Canada and it's somewhat funny. It makes fun of the unactive Americans out there - and yes, there are a lot of those. Anyways, here are some of the highlights, courtesy of Engadget Mobile. Below that you can check out the video for yourself.

"Unlike our neighbors to the south, Canadians are an active people.""Coupe de Kill is kinda scary. I should probably get out of here before she goes on Twitter.""According to Wikipedia, this game was first played in 1299. And, uh, I think some of these people were maybe there."

We already know about flexible OLED displays and last week we heard about the first flexible LED display. Well, you may or may not know, but flexible OLED displays dislike water - until now, that is. Kodak just showed off their flexible OLED display that works underwater and they even projected a fish image on it, just for kicks. Pretty cool!

After weeks of confusion, the Android-based Samsung I7500 Galaxy is now available in the UK on O2's website. In case you forgot, the Galaxy has: a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with a 320 x 480 resolution, a 5MP AF camera, WiFi / GPS support, 8GB of internal memory, and a microSD card slot. The Galaxy can be yours for free on a £44.05 monthly plan; if you live in the UK, you can check it out on O2's website now.

Last month, Verizon slashed the price of the original BlackBerry Storm to $99. They have just slashed the price again, this time to just $49.99 USD on a 2-year contract. It makes me wonder if Verizon will cut the price of the Storm one more time, since the Storm 2 isn't supposed to launch until sometime in October.

"In addition, if you buy the 9530, you can get a second BlackBerry free, choosing from a list that includes the 8830 World Edition, Curve 8330 in silver or pink, Pearl Flip 8230, 8703e or your can just grab a second Storm." You can check out Verizon's website for the deal now.

The 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron 11z notebook / netbook launched 12 days ago for $399 USD. Now, the base price has been bumped up to $449 USD. A Dell rep has mentioned that the $50 USD price bump is because of the new LED-backlit display. Apparently, if the lower quality screen becomes available again, the price will drop back to $399. For now, you can check it out on Dell's website here.

We already know about LG's 15-inch OLED TV. It should be launching by the end of this year in Korea. At IFA 2009 this year, LG is set to officially announce their 15-inch OLED TV, which would make it the largest OLED TV ever announced - IFA 2009 will take place between September 4th and 9th. The rumours are also saying that this OLED TV will be priced underneath the whopping £3,500 cost of Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV.

Update: According to Engadget, this should be launching in Korea this November. Let's hope it's cheaper than the Sony XEL-1 in the US, which is $2,500.

Just like we heard last week, the Motorola Entice W766 handsets have just made their way into Verizon stores. These are the first live photos of the Entice that we've seen. Take a look at the link below for more photos and another video of the Motorola Entice. We still don't know when it will be launching, but it should be pretty soon.

Medion has just unveiled its latest all-in-one PC, the X9613. This all-in-one PC is rocking: a 24-inch multi-touchscreen display, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2.0GHz CPU, and Nvidia GeForce GT240M graphics. Below the display, you will see a bunch of media controls, a miniature SlideShow screen, and a physical volume knob. In the video below it's running Windows 7, so it looks like it will be available later this year. It'll launch this year for €1,499 ($2,142 USD) to €1,900 ($2,714 USD). Like I said, you can check out the video below.

Some lucky guy just got his hands on a development model of the Creative Zii EGG. Apparently, the sound quality on this PMP is "the best sounding Creative player" to date. Just take a look at the two videos below, remember it's a dev model.

You are correct, we’ve announced the Nokia N900 yesterday. We have not announced where it will be available but have just said that it will be released in select regions.

Regarding the network bands, you are correct – we announced a WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz bands. We have not made any announcements regarding an 850/1900/2100 MHz band device. An announcement will be forthcoming.

Thanks,
Joe

This means that the Nokia N900 Maemo OS tablet will have AT&T / Rogers 3G capabilities - in the future, that is. As of right now, it's confirmed to be capable of running on T-Mobile, but the AT&T / Rogers-capable Nokia N900 announcement will be coming, maybe at Nokia World or something. Just wait for it.

Even though it's not official yet, the MSI Wind U210 is already available for pre-orders on Amazon here for $430 USD. The U210 is exactly the same as the Wind U200, except for the fact that it has an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6GHz CPU. It also comes with: a 12-inch display, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, and WiFi 802.11n connectivity. Check it out on Amazon's website.

I didn't know this but Globalive Wireless plans to re-launch later this year as WIND Mobile in Canada. Calgary and Toronto will be the first two cities that WIND Mobile plans to launch in by the end of this year; the rest of Canada will be getting their shot at WIND Mobile next year. Unfortunately, the rumours of the iPhone launching on WIND Mobile will not happen, since the Chairman, Tony Lacavera, has mentioned that they will not have the iPhone at launch.

It sucks for the consumers and it could suck for them since the iPhone would be amazing to have at their launch. We'll just have to see what happens when WIND Mobile launches later this year.

Here's another Android MID and this one is the ENT ET-M43A. This MID reportedly has: a 624MHz Intel XScale PXA300 CPU, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a virtual QWERTY keyboard, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g, an SDHC card slot, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Unfortunately, they could've made the screen a lot larger, since there is a lot of bezel space and there's no 3G support on this device. Another thing that this device has is a dedicated Windows button on its hard keyboard (below) in the bottom left corner. Maybe it'll dual-boot Windows and Android? We don't know yet, so we'll just have to wait for an official word.

You should already know that Blizzard is working on a new MMO - and yes, it's not Cataclysm, since that turned out to be another World of Warcraft expansion. We don't know anything about their new MMO, but according to the latest rumour, it won't be pay-to-play like World of Warcraft; apparently, it'll be free. This isn't confirmed at the time, so it's still a rumour.

Could Blizzard really make a free-to-play game and jeopardize the future of WoW? I don't know.

According to the latest rumour, there will be a PSP-4000. We already know about the PSP Go, but this one will be a little bit different - more like the PSP's we already know and love. This one will be a part of the PSP-1000, PSP-2000, and PSP-3000 line-up; it'll be the direct successor to the PSP-3000, and this means that it will have the UMD slot. This comes from a source who told us about the PS3 Slim earlier this year.

Personally, I think Sony is doing this because there could be a lot of people out there that don't want their UMD games to go to waste. Maybe it'll also feature a sliding screen? We'll just have to wait and see.

While this may not be the Weibu N10A, it looks identical to it - even the specs are the same. This netbook is actually from a company called CASZH and right now it doesn't have a name yet. This netbook has: a 10.1-inch display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, an Intel Atom N230 CPU, Nvidia Ion graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a card reader, a 3-cell battery, and still no word on the OS it's running. Another 10-inch netbook with the power of the Nvidia Ion, this one is expected to hit China soon.